Freight-car hopper



A. T. KUEHNER.

FREIGHT CAR HOPPER.

APPLICATION FILED 050.24. 1920.

Patented Apr. 111, 1922.

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FREIGHT CAR HOPPER.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 24, 1920.

Patented Apr. 111, 1922.

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saw MOM ARTHUR 'l. K'UEHNER, OF ELKRIDGE, MARYLAND.

FREIGHT-GAR HOPEER.

Specification of Letters Fatent.

Patented Apr. 11, 1%223.

application filed. December 24., 1920 Serial No. 432,921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR T'KUEHNER, citizen of the United States, residing at Elkridge, in the county of Howard and State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Freight-Car Hoppers, of which the following is a specifica tion.

This invention relates to an improved hopper for railway freight cars and has as one of its principal objects to provide a hopper which will direct the load as it is discharged away from the track rails and which will be of such construction that repairs may be readily made thereon. I

A further object of the invention is to provide a hopper employing a door which will normally remain closed without mechanical pressure thereon.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a door so constructed and hung that the door will not become broken or cracked at its margins, thus forestalling the necessity for future cooperage.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a door which will remain closed under all working conditions.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a door which may be opened with out the necessity for hammering thereon as well as a door having aminimum freezing exposure at the joint between the door and the hopper chute.

And the invention has as a still further object to provide a door which, when open, will not hamper the iiow of the load through the hopper chute.

Other and incidental objects will appear hereinafter.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view on the line 11 of Figure 2,

looking in the direction of the arrows, this view showing my improved hopper in connection with a freight car,

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view on the line 22 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows,

Figure 3 is a detail elevation showing the locking mechanism employed for locking the doors of the hoppers open and closed, 7

Figure 4 is a fragmentary plan view particularly showing the, mounting of the retaining plate employed in connection with each of the doors, and

Figure 5 is a detail perspective view of one of'the door guides employed.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, it will be seen that T have shown my improved hopper in connection with a freight car of conventional design. The sidewalls of the car are indicated at 10 and extending along said side walls at their bottom edges are the usual angle plates 11. The

center sills of the car are indicated at 12 and, as will be observed, the car is, as usual, formed medially with confronting pairs of hoppers, the downwardly diverging front walls of which are indicated at 14. The present invention has to do particularly with the type of hopper chute as well as the doors employed and since these features are the same for each pair of hoppers, only one pair of the hoppers will be described in detail.

In carrying the invention into effect, I employ downwardly inclined chutes 15 which are suitably secured to the side walls of the hoppers and tothe adjacent wall 14, this latter wall being formed with door openings at the lower ends of the chutes. The chutes are trough shaped, being formed with areuate bottom portions and, as best shown in Figure 1, gradually increase in depth toward the lower ends thereof. In thus employing arcuateshaped chutes, repairs thereon may be readily made while the chutes will tend to direct the load being discharged therethrough between the track rails. In any construction employing a square shaped chute, the load is discharged in'such manner that the material of the load piles upon the rails. However, in the pres ent construction, the curved walls of the chutes tend to direct the material of the'load between the rails. Extending about the outer sides of the chutes at their lower ends are angle plates serving to reinforce the chutes at the mouths thereof and arranged in spaced relation to the plates 16. This construction provides an. arrangement whereby water will be prevented from collecting behind the retaining plates while, also, fine material will be prevented from clogging behind the plates at the mouths of the chutes.

Secured to the adjacent front wall 14: of the chutes are posts 19 the bases of which abut the center sills 12 and mounted to pivot or swing upon said posts are companion semi-circular doors 20 normally closing the chutes 15 at their lower ends. As best shown in Figure 1, the. doors are provided with marginal flanges 21 and secured to said flanges at the upper inner corners of the doors are hinge plates 22 journaled upon saidposts. The doors are thus mounted to swing upwardly against the adjacent front wall 1- 1; about the axes of the posts and mounted upon said wall tocoact with the free outer margins of'the doorsare guides 23. As shown in detail in Figure 5, these guides are so formed that the doors are adapted to ride therebeneath so that when the doors are opened, the guides will hold the free outer corners of the doors against outward movemest away fromthe front wall. As shown in- Figure 1, the curved portions of the door flanges are notched or cut away so as to ride behind the retaining plates 17. These plates will thus coact with the doors, when the doors are closed, for rigidly supporting the doors against outward movement away from the door openings.

Secured to the body of the car at its sides are bearing brackets 24 and 25 and journaled through said brackets is a cross shaft 26, one end of which is squared. As will be observed, the shaft is spaced in front'of the doors and'fixed to said shaft are arms 27. Journaled upon the outer end portions of these arms are collars 28 and pivotally connected at their upper ends to said collars are rods 29. Projecting from the doors, near the outer side edges thereof, are posts 30 and journaled upon said posts arecollars 31 to which the lower ends. of the rods29 are freely connected. The. doors are thus operatively connected with the arms 27. Oiverlying the bearing 25 and'suitably secured to the adjacent side wall of the car is a plate 32 and projecting from said plate are, as particularly shown in Figure 3, stops 33 and34. respectively. Fixed to the adjacent end portion of the shaft 26 at the outer side of the plate is an arm 35 reducedat its upper end portion to provide shoulders 36 and 37 respectively and pivoted upon the plate above the plane of the upper end of the arm are dogs, 38 and 39, these dogs being provided at their. free end portions withlater-ally projecting pins 40 by which the dogs may be readily manipulated. As will now be readily understoodin view of the preceding description, the doors 2O normally gravitate to closed position and will not open under any ordinaryworking conditions. Possibility of accidental discharge of the load is thus eliminated. As shown in Figure 3, when the doors are closed, the arm '35-upon the shaft 26 will move into engagement with the stop 33. The dog '38 may then be swung to coact with the shoulder 36 of the arm for looking the doors closed. However, aswill be perceived, no mechanical pressure is employed, nor is any required, to normally maintain the doors closed, the doors being held closed' by gravity and, of course, pressure of theload against the doors will also operate to bindrthe doors in closed position. By applying a suitable lever to the squared end of the shaft 26 and rotating the shaft counter-clockwise, the arms 27 will be swung upwardly so that the doors will be simultaneously opened. Opening movement of the doors will be limited by the engagement of the arm 35 with the stop 34. The dog 39 may then be engaged with the shoulder 37 of said arm for locking the doors open;- In this connection it is to be noted that due tothe substantially semi-circular shape of the doors, a minimum'freezing exposure is incurred at the joint between the doors and the retaining plates 17 and since provision is made wherebywater will drain behind theplates,as previously 95 explained,.the doors will not, under ordinary circumstances, be frozen shut. Therefore, it will not be necessary,as is often the case with hopper doors as now constructed, to hammerupon the doors in order that the 1' doors may 'beopened. After the doors have been so opened, it will be seen that the flow of the load through the chutes will be unhampered so that theload will readily dis-- charge through said chutes.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:" r r I 1. A car hopper including a chute, a retaining plate carried thereby but spaced from the chute to provide'an opening be- 110 'tween the plate and chute through which material may fall, and a pivoted sliding door normally closin the chute engaging behind said plate coacting therewith.

2. A car hopper including a chute,a pivoted sliding door normally closing the chute, a shaft, an arm fixed tothe shaft, a collar swiveled upon the arm, a' post projecting from the door, a collar swlveled upon said post, and a rod connecting-said collars and 2 pivotally' connected thereto whereby, I the shaft-may. be rocked forshifting the door to open position.- i V .3. A car hopper includinga chute, a pivoted sliding door normallyclosing the chute, 12

a shaft, an operative connection betweenlthe shaft and the door whereby. the shaft may be rocked forslidably swinging the door to open position, an, arm fixed to the shaft,

means arranged to coact with 'said arm at 113 one side thereof for locking the door open, and means arranged to coact with the arm at its opposite side for locking the door closed.

4. A car hopper including a chute, a pivoted sliding door normally closing the chute, a shaft, an operative connection between the shaft and the door whereby the shaft may be rocked for slidably swinging the door to open position, an arm fixed to the shaft, and companion dogs one arranged to coact with said arm at one side thereof for locking the door open, and the other arranged to coact with the arm at its opposite side for looking the door closed.

A car hopper including a chute provided at its lower end with a discharge opening, and a pivoted door mounted at the lower end of said chute to travel in a single plane and slidable upwardly across said opening swinging about the pivotal center of the door.

6. In a car, the combination of a hopper having an inclined trough shaped chute extending longitudinally of the car and provided at its lower end with a discharge opening, and a substantially semi-circular door pivoted near one corner thereof to travel in a single plane at the lower end of said chute and slidable upwardly across said opening swinging about the pivotal center of the door. 7

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature ARTHUR T. KUEHNEB. 1,. 8.] 

